


Urban Regeneration

by rudbeckia



Series: Spookylux Huxloween 2018 [14]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Birmingham City, M/M, Mild Horror, benarmie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-07-27 17:45:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16224143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Huxloween day 14: Corn maze (ok there’s a maze and this is a bit corny)Hux and Ben have gone to Birmingham so that Hux can see a theatre production that he missed in London. On their way from the railway station to the theatre, they have to negotiate their way through a maze of hoardings that are designed to funnel pedestrians safely around the extensive building work in an area of urban regeneration.Ben has an absolute nightmare of a journey back. He gets separated from Hux and there’s definitelysomethingfollowing him.





	Urban Regeneration

Grey, blocky structures spread like undergrowth from which light, modern, high-rise buildings sprouted here and there, with their attendant cranes providing uprights of red, orange and yellow. In the foreground, the pinks of fireweed and the greens and purples of wild buddleia flashed past, roots and stems cracking open the concrete floors between the brick outlines of long-demolished factories and warehouses. In between sat a grid of older streets, lined with the faded grandeur of sandstone and limestone buildings, narrowed by ranks of orange cones and choked with cars. Hux pointed, scoffed and smiled.  
“I’m glad we came by train. Driving in that looks like purgatory.”  
Ben nodded without lifting his head form his book. “Why are we here anyway?”  
“Theatre,” said Hux, exasperated. “There’s a play I missed in London. It’s on in Birmingham tonight. Small, up and coming company with—“  
“Enough,” Ben said with a shake of his head and a smile. “You want to get me some provincial culture in case I think the whole country is London. I get it.”  
Hux laughed. “Well, I suppose I do. The theatre is less than a mile from the train station. I thought we could walk off the journey?”  
Ben shrugged. “Sure. Why not. I’ve never been to Birmingham. What’s it like?”  
Hux shrugged back.

Getting out of the train station was the first challenge. The escalator up from the platform led to a busy but airy space with boutique shops and no sense of where they ought to go. They followed the crowd through the ticket barriers into a large glass-roofed central area where they had a choice of three exits, none of which were signposted with anywhere they wanted to go. Above the atrium circled a balcony that housed restaurants, bars and more boutiques.  
“Hey, Hux?” Ben caught Hux by the arm as he set off for one of the exits. “You go to the theatre. I’ll stay here.”  
Hux scowled as a crowd of slow-moving, loud-talking friends cut in front of him. “No,” he said. “You’re coming to the theatre.”

The GPS on Hux’s phone gave them directions. Out of the station, across the tram tracks and left up one of the main streets that looked as if it was pedestrianised, but a couple of vans and taxis came past tooting their horns because Ben strayed into the road without noticing. “Past the Town Hall, it says. There are some statues we could have a look at if you’re interested,” Hux said in the special voice that told Ben he was trying to sound like he knew something Ben didn’t. Ben nodded and _mmhmm_ -ed. “Or we could go to Digbeth later. I remember it being a dump but apparently it’s a haven for street artists now. You could take photographs for your portfolio. And there’s a new library since I was last here. Architecture by Mecanoo—“  
“Meccano?” asked Ben. “I’d love to see that!”  
“No, you buffoon. Look it up if you care. It has a photography collection. Do you want to—“  
“No,” replied Ben. He pointed up ahead. “What does your phone say about this?”  
Hux stopped and stared. He cursed. Right across where he wanted to go lay a barrier of gaudy hoardings advertising the latest improvements to the city centre.  
“Nothing,” Hux said, clenching his empty fist and gritting his teeth. He stared at his phone again and set off without another glance at Ben’s smirk. “I think we go this way.”

Channelled with the rest of the pedestrians between barriers too high to see over, Hux and Ben walked in the only permitted direction until they emerged onto a strip of walkway by a busy road. Ben pointed up at a building clad with ornate metalwork. “Is that the Meccano library?” he said.  
“Yes,” Hux snapped. “But we can’t get there from here, can we?”  
“Doesn’t look like it. Where’s the theatre?”  
“Somewhere over there.” Hux pointed diagonally into the building site.  
“Ah.” Ben reached out for Hux’s hand, but the press of people around them, all apparently trying to get to wherever they wanted to go as quickly as possible, buffeted them apart with tuts and grumbles. Ben tried again and held onto Hux, steering him up the next gap between the hoardings. With luck that Hux resented, it turned out to be the correct way to go for the theatre. They cleared the regeneration area and followed Hux’s satnav along quieter streets, across a canal with bars and restaurants just starting to get busy lining the bank, diagonally through a square with a sleek marble pool and water jets and, at last, arriving at the theatre doors. Outside the theatre, Ben held Hux tight.  
“I hate crowds,” Hux said, leaning into Ben’s chest.  
“I know,” replied Ben. “Bet the theatre has a bar. Want a drink before the performance?”  
“Yes please,” said Hux with a sigh.

Hux said the performance was everything he had hoped for, and Ben grudgingly admitted on the way out that he had expected it to be dull but he’d enjoyed its surreal edge. They left the theatre in high spirits and with time to spare before the last train back home. Ben suggested dinner, and Hux chose a bustling restaurant by the canal side. They ate, drank, talked and laughed until Hux said it was time to head back to catch their train. Ben’s grip tightened around Hux’s hand as they approached the maze of hoardings again and Hux made soothing noises. “Hey, it should be easier now we know the way, right?”  
“I suppose so,” said Ben.  
Hux checked his phone screen. “Okay. Along by the road and then... left. Then right.” Hux led Ben by the hand along the route Ben knew was simply the reverse of their walk from earlier and, after a few minutes, should bring them out at the end of the shopping street. But the narrow channel between the hoardings seemed to go on forever. Ben frowned and looked around, lit from above by flickering street-lamps. “This is wrong,” he said. “We must have missed a turn. Sorry, babe, we’ve got to go back a bit.”

They turned. Behind them, where there ought to be the path they had only just arrived on, was a brightly painted hoarding advertising the latest extension to the Midland Metro tram system. From somewhere to their left came a low, guttural growl. Hux let go Ben’s hand and backed away. “RUN!” he yelled. Hux bolted and Ben ran after him. Ben glanced over his shoulder to see two, sodium-orange, glowing points of light in a pool of darkness that the streetlights couldn’t penetrate, then he looked ahead again. He swerved at the last second to avoid running full-speed into a rainbow-striped hoarding, looking ahead and behind for Hux and... and whatever had been chasing them.

He could see neither.

Nauseous with panic, Ben doubled back but the way had changed again. He yelled for Hux, and a reply came as if from far away.

_Ben! Help me! Ben!_

Ben yelled louder. He could hear the snarling beast but he could not see it. The sound of claws clicking and clattering on concrete seemed to come from all around echoing louder and louder from the walls that enclosed him. The walkway narrowed as Ben ran back and forth, left and right, searching the shifting maze for Hux, tormented by Hux’s pleading cries and shouts and screams. All the while he knew the beast loomed closer behind him: he felt the breeze of its breath on his neck, its claw brush his shoulder. Ben’s head swam with fear. He put on a burst of speed, stomach roiling and threatening to make him stop and vomit, and ran. Without warning a kerbstone caught his foot and he fell.

Ben jerked. It was dark and silent with the memory of a sound just ended in the air. Heart thundering and blood rushing in his ears, he looked around in confusion: Hux sat rapt beside him in a red velour seat, shoulder to shoulder. The lights came up halfway and the audience erupted into applause when the curtain lifted and the cast took a bow. Hux stopped clapping his hands and squeezed Ben’s leg instead. “Are you okay?”  
“Uh,” Ben shook his head and shuffled up higher in his seat. “I think I fell asleep.”  
“Well then,” said Hux. “Glad you don’t snore. Did you have pleasant dreams?”  
Ben frowned at the lingering feeling of dread that dissipated as soon as he noticed it. “I don’t remember,” he said.  
Hux clapped again for another few seconds then the curtain fell for the last time and the lights brightened. They walked out of the theatre into the street and Hux smiled. “Should we have dinner and a drink in one of the restaurants by the canal, then walk back to the station? The way back should be easy now we know the route.”  
“No,” Ben said, surprised by the vehemence of his own reply and the surge of revulsion he felt at the thought of walking back through the regeneration area. He clasped Hux’s hand tightly. “Let’s get a taxi.”


End file.
